Posted by Sad Suzie on May 16, 2004, at 18:55:50
In reply to Re: Selegiline Patch Emsam Patch » sadsuzie, posted by jrbecker on May 2, 2004, at 17:55:47
Please forgive me for taking so long to respond.
SS
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Dx: >20 years of Atypical Depression, Social Phobia and GADMedications and response:
Variety of tricyclics - Elavil helped with physical symptoms (nausea and body aches), but did nothing for my mood.
Prozac – a nightmare for me. After 6 days on Prozac, I went from mildly depressed and anxious to suicidal and housebound. Two weeks off the drug, I returned to “normal” (mildly depressed and anxious)
Effexor and Effexor XR – Within 2 days I was climbing the walls and stopped taking the drug.
Wellbutrin & Wellbutrin XR – Mixed response. Felt OK at times, but also caused “crying jags” that seemed to come from nowhere.
Reboxetine – Imported from Europe in mid-1990’sFelt just like Effexor
Nardil – Worked great for the social phobia, and helped with the depression. I started going out socially, which I had not done in a very long time. I responded at a relatively low dose (45 mg). Unfortunately, Nardil stopped working after a few months. We tried increasing the dose, but the small increase in dosage resulted in intolerable side effects (dizziness, muscle aches, severe afternoon tiredness)
Summer 2000 – Located and participated in a clinical trial of 20 mg selegiline patch. Friends and co-workers were the first to notice the gradual change in my mood. After about 3-weeks, I knew it was a life changing drug for me. I realized I was truly comfortable with myself. Instead of being so inwardly focused, my world began to expand outside of myself. I did feel a little anxious, and had some trouble getting to sleep at night. A low dose of anti-anxiety meds would have taken care of the symptoms, but I struck to the rules of the clinical trial and took no other drugs but the selegiline. When the trial was over, I remember crying throughout my final visit to the docs office. She told me to try to hold onto to the knowledge that I’d finally found the drug that worked for me. But, I knew the FDA would guarantee it would be years before I had access to the patch.I’m currently on no mo medication. There are times I think I cannot take the emptiness and despair a minute longer. But, I keep telling myself “just hold on a little longer”
I hope this information has been helpful to some of you. When the patch is finally available to the public, I truly believe it will be a life saving drug for many, many people.
poster:Sad Suzie
thread:340363
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040515/msgs/347526.html